Recari flies into Kia lead with eagle

/ AP

Beatriz Recari, of Spain, hits her tee shot on the 18th hole during the third round of the LPGA Kia Classic golf tournament at the Aviara Golf Club on Saturday, March 23, 2013 in Carlsbad, Calif. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

Beatriz Recari, of Spain, hits her tee shot on the 18th hole during the third round of the LPGA Kia Classic golf tournament at the Aviara Golf Club on Saturday, March 23, 2013 in Carlsbad, Calif. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy) (/ AP)

Beatriz Recari knew she ripped her drive. She barely watched the ball flight, quickly bending over to pick up her tee.

Then the Spaniard heard the building cheers. The shot got better by the second.

LPGA Tour officials gave the players in the Kia Classic the green light with a drivable par-4 16th hole at Aviara Golf Club, and Recari rode it all the way into the third-round lead. In fading sunlight, her tee shot took a great bounce in the fairway, rolled narrowly by the hole for a possible double eagle, and settled 7 feet behind the cup. The 25-year-old calmly rolled in the putt.

The eagle pushed Recari to a 3-under-par 69 score and onto the top of the leaderboard at 11-under overall. Heading into the final round, she has sole possession of the lead because Hall of Famer Karrie Webb stumbled on her last two holes, making consecutive bogeys to shoot 70 and fall to 9-under.

Recari has one LPGA victory to her name, forged in her rookie year in 2010. She will go head-to-head on Sunday with Webb, the 38-year-old Australian who has won 38 times, including seven majors, to tie for 11th on the all-time wins list.

Taking a tournament title when you’re a wide-eyed rookie is one thing. Doing it when you’ve had two years to wonder when you’ll ever win again is another thing. Right?

Recari smiled rather mischievously.

“Winning is really simple. It’s very easy,” she said. “You just make it hard on yourself when you start thinking the wrong things. Before when I won, I was so calm and I was surprised how calm I was because I was doing the right things. That win was very special.”

Recari has achieved something fairly remarkable this week. On a long golf course with enormous greens, she is the only player in the field who doesn’t have a bogey over the first 54 holes. She doesn’t think she has ever done that in her career.

“Wow, that’s very impressive,” said Paula Creamer, who played with Recari and shot 71 to be tied with Rancho Santa Fe’s I.K. Kim (70) for third place at 8-under. “It’s hard not to make a bogey out there. I’ve made a bunch. That’s why she’s leading.”

Creamer, in fact, suffered a trio of three-putt bogeys on Saturday, including at 18. Webb made a pair in her last two holes.

Webb was cruising and in the lead until she arrived at the par-5 17th tee. She sliced her drive into the eucalyptus grove, punched out, hit a poor 3-wood and barely salvaged a bogey. At the 18th, guarding against a slice, she overcompensated with a tee shot left and ended up in an awkward lie in the fairway bunker. She couldn’t reach the green and made a 5-footer for bogey.

“Not a great finish. Obviously, I’d like those two shots back,” said Webb, who admitted that she may have been fatigued and hungry at the end. “But I feel good with how I’m playing.”

Webb last won on the LPGA two years ago at the RR Donnelly in Phoenix, but last month she captured her eighth Ladies Australian Masters.

Of what all of her victories mean when contending on a Sunday, Webb said, “They matter to me because I feel like that’s my comfort zone. … I like to have a chance to win and I’ve put myself in there with a good shot.”

There are a lot of players hungry for a win at the top of the board. Creamer has nine tour victories, but hasn’t lifted a trophy in 56 starts, dating back to the 2010 U.S. Women’s Open. That win came in only her fourth event back after having extensive thumb surgery.

“It’s one of the hardest things,” Creamer said of the win drought. “I’m playing great, hitting great golf shots. We have kind of a thing on my team. I hate talking about ‘old Paula’ because I’m still the same girl, still the same golfer. I don’t like the phrase, but I kind of feel like I’m back to hitting a lot of greens, making birdie putts, making long putts at big moments. I’m never far from it. It’s just a matter of time coming back to it.”

Chip-ins

-- World No. 1 Stacy Lewis shot 69 and moved into a tie for fifth with Lizette Salas (70) and Cristie Kerr (71).

-- Carlsbad’s Jennifer Johnson scored 71 to get into a tie for 32nd. Rancho Bernardo's Tiffany Joh also shot 71 and was tied for 48th.